Comparison of the effectiveness of ketorolac injection into the masseter and medial pterygoid muscles in preventing the post-operative complications after mandibular third molar surgery

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of preoperative ketorolac injection on reducing or eliminating postoperative complications in order to find the best site for injection. Thus, the amount of annoyance and dissatisfaction of the patient is reduced so that the patient can move toward surgery with facing less problems and complications after treatment.

In this study, patients were divided into 2 groups of 42 individuals. After the injection of IANB anesthesia, 30 mgs of ketorolac was injected into the master muscle for the first group and 30 mg of ketorolac was injected into the medial pterygoid muscle for the second group. Pain, edema, trismus, mouth opening rate and patients ‘general satisfaction were assessed on the second and seventh days after surgery. Data were analyzed by Stata v 14.2 software and statistical tests.

In the present study, although in the group receiving ketorolac in medial pterygoid muscle  the outcomes of pain on both the second and seventh days and swelling on the second day, less and maximum mouth opening and general satisfaction of the patient on the second day, were higher, but these differences were not statistically significant and the only significant difference was in the satisfaction parameter of patients after surgery on the seventh day, so that the patients receiving the ketorolac in the medial pterygoid muscle reported higher satisfaction (p=0.021).

The results of this study showed that there was no significant difference in the outcomes of pain, swelling, trismus and maximum mouth opening between the two groups of injection of ketorolac into the master muscle and medial pterygoid muscle, and only a significant difference was in the general satisfaction parameter of patients after surgery on the seventh day, so that patients receiving the ketorolac into the medial pterygoid muscle reported more satisfaction than the master muscle.